| Holman Christian Standard Bible | International Standard Version |
| 1Woe to the city of blood, totally deceitful, full of plunder, never without prey. | 1Woe to this city, contaminated with shed blood, all full of lies and robberies— it is never without victims! |
| 2The crack of the whip and rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and jolting chariot! | 2The crack of whips and the clamor of wheels! The galloping horses and the bounding chariots! |
| 3Charging horseman, flashing sword, shining spear; heaps of slain, mounds of corpses, dead bodies without end-- they stumble over their dead. | 3The cavalry attacks— the flashing sword and the glittering spear! Many are the slain— so many casualties!— No end to bodies, and the soldiers trip over the corpses. |
| 4Because of the continual prostitution of the prostitute, the attractive mistress of sorcery, who betrays nations by her prostitution and clans by her witchcraft, | 4Innumerable are the harlotries of this well-favored whore, this mistress of witchcraft, who enslaves nations through her fornication and families through her sorcery. |
| 5I am against you. This is the declaration of the LORD of Hosts. I will lift your skirts over your face and display your nakedness to nations, your shame to kingdoms. | 5"Look, I am against you," declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, "so I will pull up your dress over your face. I will show your nakedness to the nations, and your disgrace to the kingdoms. |
| 6I will throw filth on you and treat you with contempt; I will make a spectacle of you. | 6I will hurl abominable filth upon you, making you look foolish, and making an example of you. |
| 7Then all who see you will recoil from you, saying," Nineveh is devastated; who will show sympathy to her?" Where can I find anyone to comfort you? | 7It will be that everyone who looks at you will run away, saying, 'Nineveh has been violently overthrown! Who will mourn for her? Where will I find anyone to comfort you?'" |
| 8Are you better than Thebes that sat along the Nile with water surrounding her, whose rampart was the sea, the river her wall? | 8"Are you any better than Thebes, which sits by the upper Nile, surrounded by water? The sea was her defense, the waters her wall of protection. |
| 9Cush and Egypt were her endless source of strength; Put and Libya were among her allies. | 9Sudan was her source of strength, along with Egypt— there were no limits. Put and the Libyans were her allies. |
| 10Yet she became an exile; she went into captivity. Her children were also dashed to pieces at the head of every street. They cast lots for her dignitaries, and all her nobles were bound in chains. | 10But she, too, was exiled— she went into captivity! Her young children were dashed to pieces at every crossroad of their streets, and her famous citizens were sold by lottery, while all of her aristocrats were put in chains. |
| 11You also will become drunk; you will hide yourself. You also will seek refuge from the enemy. | 11You will also become drunk. You will disappear, trying to hide from your enemies. |
| 12All your fortresses are fig trees with figs that ripened first; when shaken, they fall-- right into the mouth of the eater! | 12All your defenses are like fig trees with ripe early fruit— when shaken, it falls right into the devourer's mouth. |
| 13Look, your troops are like women among you; the gates of your land are wide open to your enemies. Fire will devour the bars of your gates. | 13Look at your people— they are women! Your borders stand wide open to your enemies, while fire consumes the bars of your gates." |
| 14Draw water for the siege; strengthen your fortresses. Step into the clay and tread the mortar; take hold of the brick-mold! | 14"Draw water, because a siege is coming! Strengthen your fortresses! Make the clay good and strong! Mix the mortar! Go get your brick molds! |
| 15The fire will devour you there; the sword will cut you down. It will devour you like the young locust. Multiply yourselves like the young locust, multiply like the swarming locust! | 15In that place fire will consume you, the sword will cut you down, consuming you as locusts do. Multiply yourself like locusts, increase like swarming grasshoppers. |
| 16You have made your merchants more numerous than the stars of the sky. The young locust strips the land and flies away. | 16You added to your inventory of businessmen— they number more than the stars of heaven. The creeping locust sheds its skin and flies away. |
| 17Your court officials are like the swarming locust, and your scribes like clouds of locusts, which settle on the walls on a cold day; when the sun rises, they take off, and no one knows where they are. | 17Your imperial guards are like the swarming grasshopper; your marshals are like hordes of grasshoppers, settling in the stone walls on a chilly day. The sun rises, and they flee away; no one knows where they went. |
| 18King of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your officers sleep. Your people are scattered across the mountains with no one to gather them together. | 18Hey king of Assyria! Your shepherds are asleep and your nobles are lying down! Your people lie scattered on the mountains, and there is no one to gather them together. |
| 19There is no remedy for your injury; your wound is severe. All who hear the news about you will clap their hands because of you, for who has not experienced your constant cruelty? | 19There is no healing for your injury— your wound is fatal. Everyone who hears about you will applaud, because who hasn't escaped your endless evil?" |
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